Radio Authority Advertises Digital Licence For Northern Ireland

The Radio Authority has announced that it is inviting applications for a local digital multiplex licence in the Northern Ireland area. This is the latest of the planned advertisements of digital radio licences, at a rate of one per month, designed to provide local digital services throughout the UK.

The licence is to cover an area with an adult population of around 1.3 million and will need to include transmission in digital form of the existing BBC national regional radio service, BBC Radio Ulster.

Due to the lack of available digital spectrum, the national commercial radio multiplex operated by Digital One (see Digital Radio Launches In The UK) does not cover Northern Ireland. Thus, this local multiplex will for the foreseeable future represent the only opportunity for the provision in digital form of any of the three Independent National Radio (INR) services – Classic FM, Virgin Radio and TalkSport – or for any of the other programme services carried by the national multiplex. Capacity for these services will not be reserved on the Northern Ireland multiplex, however.

The closing date for applications is 25 July 2000.

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Radio Authority: 020 7430 2724